Although hard to pinpoint, what you consume is by and large one of the main causes of severe acne cases. Your body has several ways to eliminate waste products. These are through your bowels, your urinary tract and kidneys, your liver, your lungs, and your skin. When your body eliminates waste through the skin, the skin pores commonly get clogged up and acne develops. It is this elimination of waste through the skin that is the focus of this article.

The first thing that I would like to point out is that today's diet, for most people, is simply garbage. Too many people have very poor diets that consists of fast foods or foods that are heavily processed and contain a ton of chemicals. Just look at the ingredients on any package and you will see what I mean.

If you go back a hundred years or so and examine the diets then, the food was fresh, void of any chemicals other than manure for fertilizer, and either grown on their own soil or a nearby farm. Back then, the population was much smaller and they tended to group together in small clusters that the local farms could sustain. You don't have that today. Today, people live everywhere, sometimes far away from their food source. That food has to be harvested and preserved to prevent rotting until it can reach someone's table hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. It's mainly a logistical problem of keeping the food fresh for transport. That is the main reason that the advent of chemicals and preservatives came into the food chain. Every kind of food has this problem. You have to look very hard to find food that doesn't contain these toxic chemicals. It is the bodies attempt to rid itself of these foreign substances that is the root cause for acne problems today. Also, it shouldn't surprise you to learn that most of the chronic illnesses that exist today, were unheard of prior to the 20th century. Even President Eisenhower's personal physician stated once that he didn't see his first heart attack victim until the 1920's. Cancer didn't exist, nor did diabetes and heart disease. When I was young, old people got cancer and diabetes. Today, children get it also. You are what you eat, as they say. So, give serious thought to a diet consisting of nothing but organically grown foods that are pesticide free, and your acne problems will disappear and your overall health will improve.

The first thing that I would change in my diet is the consumption of dairy products, and cow's milk in particular. Today's milk contains so many preservatives, steroids, and growth hormones that it is a leading cause of acne and other health related problems. Acne is the least of these. Cardiovascular problems develop because milk is the leading contributor of plaque and mucus in the body. Nutritionists are becoming increasingly aware of the problems caused by cow's milk. Numerous studies have been made and presented to The New England Journal of Medicine about the health consequences of consuming cow's milk. Good substitutes are goat's milk or soy milk. The milk lobby has done a very good job of presenting a case that milk is a good source of vitamin D and calcium. It's not. Green leafy vegetables are a much better source for calcium. There are even several studies that state that past the age of three, the human body is incapable of digesting cow's milk, which gives credibility to the plaque build up and mucus build up in the bodies of heavy milk drinkers. So replacing cow's milk with either goat's milk or soy milk is the first step I would take to get rid of acne. Replace margarine with real butter if you must use any at all. Believe it or not, margarine is just one molecule away from being plastic. In fact, if you set a tub of margarine out in the sun, it will turn into a black greasy substance that bugs and insects will avoid. I guess they have better sense than humans.

Other areas I would take a strong hard look at is the consumption of red meat and processed sugars, for the same reasons. They are heavily laced with chemicals, especially red meat. Consider replacing red meat with fish, in particular, deep salt water fish. The reason there is the deep water doesn't contain near the pollutants that shallow water has, plus the Omega 3 Fatty Acids that deep water fish contain are good for the heart. Look at your sugar intake and make changes there. Don't even consider sugar substitutes like aspartame, saccharin, and others as they are highly toxic and there is a growing body of evidence pointing to that. If you need a sugar substitute, consider stevia, which is composed of crushed organic chrysanthemum leaves. Stevia can be obtained at your local health food store. It's much sweeter than table sugar and healthy for you.

Get rid of tap water in your diet. Do you realize that sulfuric acid is used in water purification plants to rid the water of waste products. Now that's a comforting thought, isn't it? Use distilled water or purified water instead. Drink at least 8 glasses a day to keep the body properly hydrated and the metabolic processes functioning properly.

If you try all the suggestions that I have mentioned, you will most likely get rid of your acne problem and improve your health in numerous areas, however, if you still have problems with acne after trying all that, then consider going to a food allergist and getting tested. You most likely have some sort of food allergy that is manifesting itself through outbreaks of acne. It's highly likely that you will find an allergy to some kind of grain product.

In summary, a truly healthy diet is one that is organic in nature, void of all the chemicals, pesticides, and harmful fertilizers. Consuming nothing but organic fruits and vegetables, fish, whole grains, nuts and beans, juices and distilled water, will go a long way towards eliminating acne in your life forever and improving your overall health drastically. Adding daily exercise will also help you eliminate toxins through your sweat glands and skin pores more efficiently.

About the Author:

David Dorrough is a retired educator, having taught at several major universities throughout the United States. Today, he is active as a free lance writer and is involved in Internet marketing. For more information and resources on acne and acne related issues, visit his website at http://www.acne.consumers-choice.net